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GW2 Elementalist - all the news!

moved intro section to new thread, text as of November 10th, 2011 kept for contingency reasons of discussions.

Spoiler

"Air is the source of all life. It is invisible, and yet it can destroy whole villages. Water, whether frozen or flowing, is life, and its currents run deep in us. The hunger of flames and their burning destruction demand respect. Fire immolates and clears the path for new growth. Earth is the foundation that supports all life. Stone fortifies us. Rock grounds us."

Version 1.5 (Made some text changes reflecting the current status quo)

Overview

The elementalist channels natural forces of destruction, making fire, air, earth, and water do her bidding. What the elementalist lacks in physical toughness, she makes up for in her ability to inflict massive damage in a single attack, dropping foes from a distance before they can become a threat. Yet, despite her incredible offensive potential, versatility is what makes the elementalist truly formidable.

Click on the spoiler tag for a preview of the Elementalist's armor screen and skill bar (from Gamescon demo August 2010)

Spoiler

Click on the spoiler tag for a preview of the Elementalist's armor screen and skill bar (from PAXeast demo March 2011)

Spoiler

Click on the spoiler tag for a preview of the Elementalist's armor screen and skill bar (from fan day demo June 2011)

Spoiler

Click on the spoiler tag for a preview of the Elementalist's traits screen (from PAXeast demo March 2011)

Spoiler

Attunements, the Elementalist's exclusive mechanic

Rather than swap weapons to adjust to new situations - the elementalist has only one weapon slot accessible during combat - the multi-faceted elementalist quickly adapts to new threats by attuning to different elements as needed. When the elementalist attunes to any of the four elements, she receives intrinsic bonuses that continually empower her. During character creation, elementalist characters must decide which of the four elements they prefer the most. This choice will reflect in the personal storyline of the character played.

The elementalist has four elemental attunements that they can tap into. These attunements are represented by four skills that are located on the bar above their normal skills. When an elementalist switches attunements, the first five skills on their bar will change. These five skills are based on the elementalist's attunement and their current weapon, so that a fire-attuned elementalist will have different skills when he wields a staff than when he wields a scepter or focus. In addition to changing the elementalist's skills, attunements also work like a normal skill and provide an ongoing effect.

With FIRE attunement, the elementalist can inflict scorching damage on multiple enemies by turning the ground to fire or raining down molten rock from the skies. Why kill just one enemy when you can burn them all? Just by attuning to fire, the elementalist automatically causes flame damage to any foe foolish enough to touch her.
==> While active, deals fire damage to anyone touching the caster and gives access to fire skills focusing on area of effect skills and burning foes.

When the elementalist attunes to AIR, she can harness wind and lightning to target specific foes with focused, high-damage attacks. Dazzling bolts of lightning rip from the elementalist's fingertips, and brilliant flashes of light blind her enemies. When an elementalist attunes to air, nearby enemies are continuously pelted with lightning strikes.
==> While active, strikes nearby foes with lightning bolts and gives access to air and lightning skills focusing on single-target high-damage skills or blinding foes.

WATER attunement forgoes the raw damage of air and fire, in favor of controlling an opponent's movement. By creating slippery ice or freezing foes solid, water attunement ensures that the battle is always fought on the elementalist's terms. Nearby allies receive continuous healing from an elementalist who is attuned to water.
==> While active, heals nearby allies and gives access to water skills focusing on slowing enemies' movement and healing allies.

In the most dangerous situations, the elementalist relies on the powerful defense of EARTH attunement. An earth elementalist uses the ground under her feet to defend herself and her allies, turning flesh to stone, destabilizing foes with seismic shocks, and destroying threats with volcanic eruptions. Earth attunement automatically confers magical protection to the elementalist.
==> While active, increases the caster's magical protection and gives access to earth skills focusing on defending allies and self.

When an Elementalist decides to change an attunement, the element enters a short phase of recharge. Like with skills, the player has to wait before he can change back to that attunement.

Elementalists have a number of special skill types:

Glyphs—These arcane spells enhance or modify the natural power of the elementalist. She uses the Glyph of Elemental Power to increase the damage, range, and duration of her spells. Only elementalists have access to glyphs.

Signets—Signets provide an ongoing benefit to the elementalist, but can also be activated for a greater effect. An elementalist equipped with the Signet of Earth has increased damage resistance, but activating the Signet sends out a wave of stone, stunning nearby enemies.

Conjure Spells—The elementalist uses Conjure spells to summon useful items and potent weapons that she or other party members can use. For instance, she uses Conjure Flame to create a fiery rock to hurl at the enemy. Only elementalists have access to cojures.

Area Spells—Using Area spells, the elementalist creates hazards and mayhem all over the field of battle. The elementalist fires lava arrows in a cone-shaped blast or creates walls of fire that scorch any enemies passing through.

"Charge skills"—Using this type of skill the elementalist can either charge a spell to be more powerful (e.g. Churning Earth) or receive the benefit of the spell as long as the designated key is held down (e.g. Ether Renewal).

Weapons

Trident(Two Handed) — Tridents are special aquatic weapons with a long range

Before entering combat the elementalist has the choice to take action from the back line (using a Staff), move around and position himself on the battlefield (e.g. Scepter+Dagger or Scepter+Focus for a combination of midrange and short range skills) or be eye to eye with the enemy in the front line (Dagger+Focus). An Elementalist can not switch weapons during combat, as they have only one weapon slot. An Elementalist choses his effective range with his weapons and has to position himself according to that.

Last edited by Gorani; 30-01-2012 at 12:22.
Reason: several changes to weapon ranges and other things

Gorani's Guild Wars legacy & the Kurzick Poet NPC in GW1
* Member of [GWO] & The Zoo Crew * Everything about the Elementalist on the forums *
Gaile Gray: "See Gorani's post, I note several ideas that might be doable and that seem very logical."

This section is dedicated to the skills & abilities of the Elementalist in Guild Wars 2. Until the final release of the game, all skills may change, alter their names and effect, cost more or less energy or might even be removed from the game. This list can only document the current status quo of the skills, based on official sources like the wiki.guildwars2.com, arena.net/blog or statements made by ArenaNet employees in various online and print publications.

I have added additional tagging to the skills' descriptions, underlining special effects that e.g. grant boons or cause conditions.

Downed skills - Surface

* Discharge Lightning: Send out a large blast of lightning. (15)
* Grasping Earth: Summon hands that erupt from the ground and immobilize your enemy. (4)
* Vapor Form: Assume a mobile, vaporous form. When it ends you become downed again. (45)
* Help Me! Call for help from allies. Makes you invulnerable for a short while. (20)

Downed skills - under water

* Still to be named: ???
* Still to be named: ???
* Still to be named: ???
* Help Me! Call for help from allies. Makes you invulnerable for a short while. (20) recharge.

Two Handed (long range aquatic weapon, fixed skill set)

Air Attunement

1) Forked Lightning: Launch a streak of lightning that forks on impact, hitting other foes, no recharge.
2) Electrocute: Charge the water around your foe with electricity. (5)
3) Air Pocket: Release a slow-moving, detonatable, air pocket. When it explodes, you flash to that location. (12)
4) Air Bubble Trap your foe in an air bubble and make them rise(float) to surface. (35)
5) Lightning Cage: Summon an electrical field that stuns foes crossing it. (32)

During the Gamescom 2011 demo, the surface skills of the Elementalist appeared on the aquatic skill bar as well. It is unknown if "active" skills that effect the environment (e.g. like the Elite Tornado) could be used under water. Passive skills (e.g. like signets) should apply.

1) Vaporblade: Form a vaporblade that strikes all enemies along its line, no recharge.
2) Cone of Cold: Spray an icy blast that damages foes and freezes (chills)on a critical hit. (?)
3) Frozen Burst: Detonate a burst of ice that immobilizes nearby enemies. (25)

Off Hand (powerful medium rage skills; skill slots 4+5)

Air Attunement

4) Ride the Lightning: Ride the lightning to your foe. If you hit a foe before your target, you stop short and do no damage. (15)
5) Updraft: Gain swiftness on a gust of wind that launches nearby foes.

Earth Attunement

4) Earthquake: Trigger a quake at your location, knocking down foes and dealing massive damage. (50)
5) Churning Earth: While it charges, enemies are slowed down around the caster and then heavy damage is dealt to them. (?)

1) Water Blast : Shoot a jet of water at foes that also heals allies within its blast radius, no recharge.
2) Ice Spike: Summon a giant ice spike that crashes down on foes. (25)
3) Frozen Ground: Ice the ground in target area briefly, chilling foes that cross it. (45)
4) Geyser: Summons a geyser to heal nearby allies. (25)
5) Healing Rain: Call down a healing rain for your allies at the target area. Applies regeneration and removes conditions. (50)

Healing skills (designated skill slot 6)

* Aura of Restoration: It has the effect of healing the player every time a skill is used. ==> not found in game yet
* Ether Renewal: Hold down to expend energy and heal yourself.
* Glyph of Elemental Harmony: Heal self.
==> Attuned to Fire: Gain Might. -- Attuned to Air: Gain Swiftness. -- Attuned to Water: Gain Regeneration. -- Attuned to Earth: Gain Protection. (20)
* Glyph of Healing: Glyph of Healing is a straightforward elementalist healing glyph. ==> not found in game yet
* Signet of Restoration: Passive: Gain health every time you cast a spell. Active: Heal yourself. (40)

Other/Arcanum (unassigned skill slots 7-9)

* Arcane Shield: Block attacks with an arcane energy shield. If it blocks 3 attacks it explodes. (75)
* Energy Blast: Charged spell that deals more damage the longer it is charged. (45)
* Energy Shield: Surround yourself with an energy shield that reduces damage by 50%. (90)
* Cleansing Fire: Remove all conditions and break out of stun. Set enemies on fire. (30)
* Glyph of Arcane Power: All your attacks are critical hits. (45)
* Glyph of Concentration: You cannot be knocked down, stunned, chilled or launched. (??)
* Glyph of Elemental Power: Your attacks are all critical for 10 seconds. (105)
* Glyph of Elemental Storage: This allows the elementalist to store a spell of one element, for example fireball, and then use it when he/she is attuned to a different element. (105)

* Fiery Greatsword: Summon and wield a fiery greatsword. (180) ==> When summoned, the greatsword falls from the sky in a ball of fire and must be picked up by the player in order to be used. Once equipped, it changes your first 5 weapon skills:
1) Flame Wave ==> ???
2) Fiery Eruption ==> Slam your sword into the ground and make fire erupt near your foes. (5)
3) Fiery Whirl ==> Advance forwards, slashing the foes in your way. (5)
4) Fiery Rush ==> Charge at target foe leaving a wall of fire behind you. (10)
5) Firestorm ==> Call down a firestorm on target area. (15)

I have added all rumored skills to the "other section", since they are on the wiki now. Skills that have not yet surfaced got a "???" as their description. Skills that have already been in the game and got removed have been flagged.

Gorani

Last edited by Gorani; 07-11-2011 at 19:08.
Reason: moved parts of thread

Trait section moved to new thread; text as of November 7th, 2011 kept for contingency reasons of discussions.

Spoiler

Preview traits: Elementalist

Version 1.2b (added extrapolated traits for Air, Fire & Water)

Traits are acquired by completing profession challenges scattered throughout the world. Each profession focuses on different activities to develop his or her traits. Elementalists seek ancient knowledge locked in tomes or particularly powerful elemental locations.

The Elementalist has one general trait line: Arcanum. They also have lines for each attunement: Earth Mastery, Air Mastery, Water Mastery and Fire Mastery, and each of the weapons they can wield.

At the current state of information it looks like every skill linked to a weapon has some sort of "Improved *skill name*" version, which enhances a certain aspect of the skill, like damage, AoE or additional effect like stun. After the GamesCom demo a lot of skills have changed weapons. I have not switched them yet, because traits had been disabled in the demo & things might be changed again.

Last edited by Gorani; 07-11-2011 at 19:13.
Reason: moved section to new thread

Gorani's Guild Wars legacy & the Kurzick Poet NPC in GW1
* Member of [GWO] & The Zoo Crew * Everything about the Elementalist on the forums *
Gaile Gray: "See Gorani's post, I note several ideas that might be doable and that seem very logical."

Just a point, in that character image which shows the skills, the last one for the water attunement is not Mist Form, it's Water Blast if I'm not mistaken.

Mist Form is an utility skill that grants 6 seconds of God Mode. Water Blast launches a water projectile that explodes on enemy contact dealing damage to enemies and healing allies.

And why do you have Dragon Tooth and Fire Prison in the Fire attunement preview? They are not staff skills.

The character image is there to illustrate how the armour & everything else in that hero tab looks. The two pictures that show the skill bar illustrate how the skill bar changes when you change attunements.
The skill icons do not reflect the skill bars above them. They show different skills anyway. They should show how skill icons for the Ele look, e.g. Fire icons are dominated by orange and red, Water icons are blue and white. This is in contrast to GW 1 icons, which all had a hue of red for the Elementalist.

All skills are listed as they appear on the official wiki right now - and Dragon's Tooth & Flame Prison are listed as off-hand dagger dagger skills, here and on the wiki.

Originally Posted by Nemeon Lion

Ok, fair point. It just seems a bit misleading since one's first reaction is to compare what's different in an attunement change and that is the skills.

Or maybe I'm over thinking?

Is this thread only for preview information on the elementalist, or is it okay to general discuss it as well?

I've updated the picture and removed the skill icons, as they are available on the list now anyway.

The mod team is currently discussing if or if not to move profession related threads from the GW2GDF to the newly created profession forum. Right now, I'd say use the GDF for speculation until you see the threads moved here.
I want to keep this thread for hard facts and first hand info from wiki, ArenaNet blog & PAX right now and keep "personal feelings" & likes + dislikes out.

What I would like you all to post are links to newly surfaced skill icons or skill descriptions, that are still missing from the list.
People at Gamescom seem to have focused much more on the Ranger and Necro than on the Ele, e.g. we hardy know any traits yet.

Last edited by Gorani; 04-06-2011 at 16:07.

Gorani's Guild Wars legacy & the Kurzick Poet NPC in GW1
* Member of [GWO] & The Zoo Crew * Everything about the Elementalist on the forums *
Gaile Gray: "See Gorani's post, I note several ideas that might be doable and that seem very logical."

Is it just me, or does it seem odd that dagger skills are medium range and scepter skills are short range? Seem to me it should be the other way around...

It did to me at first too, but then I realized... throwing knives + gw's unlimited ammo = fun. Oops, forgot this thread is not so much for discussion, sorry. I don't have any new skills to add either... so I guess I'll stay on topic by telling people...

Don't clutter up this thread with discussion. (Sorry and hope you get some good info for here)

I'm a bit unsure about some of the wording here. Do we have confirmation that skills outside the first five skills (which are both the weapon skills and the skills which change when people switch between attunements), such as the skills currently listed at the "(unassigned skill slots 6+)" sections, are also within the influence of a given elemental attunement? For example, if the skill Stone Signet is a utility skill (slots 7 to 9 at the skill bar), could it be an Earth Attunement skill? Or are only the weapon skills used while under Earth Attunement considered to be under that attunement's influence?

Official wiki lists the non weapon related skills as attunements to a certain element too. No need to deviate from that IMO.

PS: Fixed a copy&paste error from the Arcanum/Other skill list

Gorani's Guild Wars legacy & the Kurzick Poet NPC in GW1
* Member of [GWO] & The Zoo Crew * Everything about the Elementalist on the forums *
Gaile Gray: "See Gorani's post, I note several ideas that might be doable and that seem very logical."